Presented by Janet Street-Porter, the programme delved into the history of the industry – from the heady days of Fleet Street, through to Rupert Murdoch's battle with the print unions – and reflected on the current industry being under siege from other forms of media.

It included footage of Murdoch's new print facilities, which are able to print 23m newspapers a week.

Murdoch himself stood behind the power of newspapers. "It's the words that count – are the words well written, are the ideas interesting?" he said.

However, no-one featured denied the current challenges facing the sector. The programme looked into the impact of the internet that has seen both readers and advertisers flocking online and the subsequent response from the newspapers.

"There's probably only one website in the UK developed by a newspaper that is profitable," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group.

"The sums simply don't add up. These are not economic businesses we are running," said Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief at Guardian News and Media, adding that the printing presses of the group are probably the last it will buy.

"The product of ink on paper, I think its days may be numbered," he said.

However, Derek Jameson, erstwhile editor of many a red top tabloid, said that newspapers have been through revolutions before and come out the other side.

What did emerge in the programme was that newspaper publishers have come round to the idea of moving online, with the upside being a more international audience – two-thirds of the Guardian website's users are not in the UK – rather than driving sales of the printed product.

The problem newspapers must solve is how to serve relevant online ads to a global audience, the programme argued.

Next week the second part of the series will explore the book sector.

The programme is available for replay on the BBC iPlayer.